Sport

"Mom…how grounded am I going to be?" eleven-year old Tyler asked his mother as they sat in the principal's office together.

"Very," Sam sighed. "What were you thinking Tyler? Why would you put stink bombs in your teacher's desk?"

"Because I thought it would be funny," Tyler replied. "And I heard you talking to Aunt Carly about the time you did that when you were in school!"

"Ugh…great," Sam said, rolling her eyes. "That means I'm going to get another one of those lectures from your dad again when he finds out about this."

"Mrs. Benson?" the principal of the middle school said, poking his head out of the office. "We're ready for you now."

"Let's get this over with," Sam mumbled as her and Tyler got to their feet.

"Well, Mrs. Benson, I thought our meetings had come to an end after Emma graduated last year," the principal said as he sat down at his desk. "But as it turns out, it looks like we have three more years of these to look forward to. Er, that is unless you have any other children coming to this school."

"He's the last," Sam said quickly. "Look, Principal Rubenstein, I've already talked to Tyler about what he did. He's going to be grounded for a long time."

"Aw man," Tyler moaned.

"That's good to hear," the principal nodded. "But unfortunately, I do still need to issue a punishment from the school as well."

"Alright, put him back in detention again," Sam said. "What are we looking at? A week?"

"Actually, Mrs. Benson, this is Tyler's third offense this semester," the principal said heavily. "Which means that this time he is supposed to be suspended."

"Suspended?" Tyler exclaimed.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, are you serious?" Sam frowned. "You're going to suspend him over a few stink bombs? That's insane!"

"That's the policy," the principal said simply.

"Well it's a dumb policy!" Sam snapped. "Tyler can't be suspended! It will go on his record and colleges will see it and-"

"Mrs. Benson, please, calm down," Principal Rubenstein said.

"Uh-oh…"Tyler said under his breath.

"Don't tell me to calm down!" Sam said loudly, standing up. "You're being completely unreasonable! How can you suspend a kid over a few little pranks? Huh? That's exactly what's wrong with this whole school system and-"

"Mrs. Benson, I just mean that I do have another option," the principal said quickly.

"Another option?" Sam repeated, calming down slightly. "What's the other option?"

"The teacher who fell victim to the whole…stink bomb fiasco just happens to be in charge of the school play this semester," Principal Rubenstein explained. "They're doing a take on Cinderella. However, only girls showed up to the auditions last week, meaning the role of Prince Charming is still empty. Now Ms. Hamilton said she'd be willing to 'look the other way' about the stink bombs if Tyler agrees to play the part."

"So he'd just have to be in a play?" Sam said.
"That is correct," the principal nodded.

"So he wouldn't be suspended?"

"No, he would not."

"Oh, well then of course he'll be in the play," Sam said.

"What? Mom!" Tyler objected.

"Quiet, you're doing this!" Sam hissed. "You're not about to be suspended!"

Tyler grumbled moodily as he crossed his arms stubbornly.

"Perfect, I'll tell Ms. Hamilton the news," the principal nodded. "Rehearsals are three times a week after school. Opening night is in one month."

"He'll be at every single rehearsal," Sam assured him. "Even if I have to drag him there myself."

"Sam, how long are these rehearsals going to last?" Freddie asked a few weeks later as he sat in the parking lot of Tyler's school, waiting for his son to come out. "I hate having to wait out here."

"Yeah, it must be so annoying have to pick your kid up from one activity for a few weeks," Sam said sarcastically on the other line. "You know yesterday I not only picked Tyler up from rehearsal, but I drove Emma to her soccer practice, picked up Ashton's cheer uniform from the dry cleaners, picked up Ashton and Clarissa from their debate practice-"

"Alright, alright, I'm done complaining," Freddie said, rolling his eyes. "Oh, I think I see him coming out now. I'll see you at home."

"Hi dad!" Tyler said as he climbed into the car.

"Hey, how was rehearsal?" Freddie asked.

"Cool, I remembered most of my lines today," Tyler said. "Ms. Hamilton said I'm a natural actor."

"Wow, impressive," Freddie said. "So you're actually starting to like this, huh?"

"Maybe a little," Tyler admitted.

"Well you know, you don't have to stop acting after this play," Freddie said. "The drama club at your school puts on plays all year. Why don't join that?"

"But what about football and baseball?" Tyler asked.

"Well you can do sports and act," Freddie shrugged.

"I can?" Tyler said.

"Sure, why not?" Freddie said. "If you like doing both, go for it."

"Alright!" Tyler nodded excitedly.

When Tyler and Freddie arrived home Sam was just putting dinner onto the table.

"Hey," she said to Tyler. "How'd rehearsal go?"

"Good," Tyler said, sitting down at the table. "Guess what? I'm going to join drama club! Dad said I can do even more plays that way."

"Wow, sounds fun," Sam grinned. "See, aren't you glad you did this now?"

"Yeah, it's a good thing I put those stink bombs in Ms. Hamilton's drawer, or I never would've gotten to," Tyler said.

"Er, not exactly the connection you should be making, but alright," Sam shrugged. "So opening night's in a week, right? I've already told Aunt Carly and Uncle Spencer."

"What about Gibby?" Freddie asked.

"Do we have to?" Sam sighed.

"Yes!" Freddie said. "He loves the theatre. Besides, it will be easier to get Emma to sit through the play if Quincy's there with her."

"With you sitting in between them, right?" Sam grinned.

"Obviously," Freddie nodded.

"You know, I've always wanted one of our kids to get into acting," Sam said. "I loved acting back on iCarly. It's a lot of fun, isn't it, Ty?"

"Yeah," Tyler said. "Especially because I get to kiss Vicky Pentroni at the end of the play. She's the prettiest girl in the sixth grade!"

"Yeah, but you like the actual acting stuff too, right?" Sam said, rolling her eyes as Freddie beamed proudly.

"Uh-huh, that's fun too," Tyler nodded. "And guess what? We get our costumes tomorrow."

"Oh, that will be cool," Freddie said.

"I know," Tyler nodded. "I can't wait!"

….

"Mom, why do we have to go!" Ashton moaned the next day. "It's a middle school play; it's bound to be terrible!"

"Because you have to support your brother, that's why!" Sam snapped.

"But it's going to be boring beyond belief," Emma pointed out.

"You're going to the play, end of story," Sam said firmly. "Tyler's practiced really hard for this and he's excited. So we're all going to be out there in the audience for him, got it?"

The twins stomped off, grumbling protests under their breath just as the front door opened and Freddie and Tyler walked in.

"Hey, how was rehearsal?" Sam smiled.

"I hate acting!" Tyler exclaimed. "It's stupid and I'm not doing this play or any other stupid play!"

"What the-Tyler!" Sam called after her son, but he had already stormed off up to his bedroom. She turned to Freddie. "What happened?"

"I don't know," Freddie said. "He was like this when I picked him up. You think something happened at rehearsal? Maybe he forgot an important scene or something."

"No, he said he had his lines memorized," Sam frowned. "I'm gonna go see what's up."

"You sure that's a good idea?" Freddie said. "Maybe you should wait and give him time to cool off."

"Dude, I just spent an hour convincing the girls that they're going to this play," Sam said. "I'm making sure Tyler's in it."

She headed up to her youngest son's room and knocked at the door. "Tyler?"

She heard him mumble something incoherent, so she pushed open the door and saw her son lying on his bed.

"Hey," she said, sitting down at the foot of the bed.

"I'm not doing the play," Tyler said at once.

"Well Tyler, you remember the deal you made; you have to be in the play or they're going to suspend you from school," Sam said.

"I don't care," Tyler said. "I hate acting!"

"Sweetie, just yesterday you were all excited about joining drama club," Sam said. "What happened?"

"What happened is only losers are in school plays!" Tyler snapped.

"Oh…" Sam said knowingly. "Ty, did some of your friends happen to say anything about you being in the play today?"

Tyler didn't answer.

"I see," Sam nodded, getting all the response that she needed from his silence.

"We got our costumes today," Tyler mumbled. "And my Prince Charming costume looks real doofy. I have to wear tights, mom. But when I was trying it on my friends from the baseball team came in and they saw me and they all started laughing at me and calling me names."

"Right," Sam said. "So you're giving up doing something you love because your so-called friends don't like you doing it?"

Tyler shrugged.

"Ty, that's ridiculous," Sam said. "Why would you want to give up something you love? If your friends make fun of you, then maybe they're not your real friends."

"Yes they are," Tyler mumbled.

"Well…what if your friends suddenly started making fun of you for liking basketball?" Sam asked. "Would you give up basketball?"

"No way!" Tyler said at once. "I'd never give up basketball!"

"And why not?" Sam asked.
"Because I love basketball," Tyler said.

"Just like you love acting," Sam said.

"Well…"

"Look, Tyler, if you really don't like acting, then you don't have to go and join the drama club," Sam said. "You can do this one to avoid being suspended and then never go near the stage again. But, if you stop doing something you love just because you care about what other people think…well, I think that's a real shame."

"But I don't like being made fun of," Tyler said.

"I know, honey, nobody does," Sam said. "But you know what? If you let people who make fun of you control what you do, you might never actually enjoy yourself."

Tyler looked down at the floor.

"You know," Sam said. "When I was younger and I first started doing iCarly with your dad and Aunt Carly, I totally loved it right away," Sam said. "But some of my other friends who were, um, from a tougher crowd thought me being in a teen web show was totally lame. They said it made me 'soft' and that I was being a total loser for being a part of it. What if I had listened to them? What if I had given up doing iCarly because some people thought it was dumb? I might have grown apart from Carly. And your dad, which means you wouldn't even be here having this conversation with me."

"But didn't it suck having those people saying those things about you?" Tyler asked.

"It wasn't exactly fun, no," Sam shrugged. "But like I said…your real friends wouldn't give you a hard time about something like that. That's how I realized who my friends were."

Tyler sighed and mumbled something under his breath.

"What was that?" Sam asked.

"I said…I like acting," Tyler replied slowly. "And-And I want to keep doing it."

"Well then," Sam said, giving her son a small smile. "You shouldn't let anything stop you from doing it."